In Green Bay, Patti Zarling noted fans attending Sunday's Packers-Rams game "saw few delays as they passed through security lanes to enter Lambeau Field." After fans "experienced significant delays at the Oct. 2 game against the Denver Broncos, the team and the Green Bay Police Department re-evaluated their approach and worked to expedite the security process, which changed from upper body pat-downs to full-body sweeps with a metal detector as part of a league-wide security push." The Packers had "more than twice as many officers on hand compared with the Denver game, and some new gates and entry points were added, such as the Miller Lite end zone gate next to the ticket office on the north end of the stadium" (GREENBAYPRESSGAZETTE.com, 10/16).
NOT SO FAST: In San Diego, Nick Canepa wrote under the header, "Chargers Stadium Still More Likely Here." Canepa wrote it seems NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is "more interested in London these days" than L.A., and while L.A. "always has felt the NFL is dying to return, I don’t know if the majority of the owners feel that way." Canepa: "The if-we-build-it-they-will-come L.A. attitude is ludicrous. ... If you read between Goodell's lines, it's obvious. The league is not going to force the L.A. issue" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/17). A SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE editorial is written under the header, "The Troubled Road To A New Stadium." There is a "huge amount of work to be done if [Mayor Jerry] Sanders is to get a stadium proposal before voters in November 2012 -- a month before he leaves office -- as he" and Chargers Special Counsel Mark Fabiani have "long set as their goal." The editorial: "It will not happen if the team and the city do not start driving in the same direction" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/16).
SPECIAL SESSION: Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said that he "wants a special session of the Legislature just before Thanksgiving to reach a final verdict on whether the Minnesota Vikings get a new, publicly subsidized stadium." Dayton said that the stadium deal "could still be a work in progress when legislators begin meeting, a move that could make a special session a politically explosive drama." Dayton again "left open the possibility that the $1.1 billion project could be built in Minneapolis, where the team has played since 1982, rather than Ramsey County's Arden Hills, the Vikings' owners' clear choice for the new home" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/18).
